Sep
25
2015
Review of a six night stay at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco — cash and points (10,000 points + $125 per night) and a confirmed suite upgrade with club lounge access.
Review: Grand Hyatt San Francisco
Free Starwood and IHG Points, Possible New World’s Longest Flight Miami – Asia
Sep
25
2015
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
There Are a Lot of Great Card Offers Out There. Here’s Why You Want the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card First.
Sep
25
2015
I’ve been a fan of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card as an important tool for frequent flyers for a long time because:
- It earns one of the most valuable points currencies, which transfer to a variety of airlines (including in all 3 major airline alliances) and hotels.
- It earns points quickly, with double points on both travel and dining (what travelers tend to spend on most).
Recent reports are that Chase has only wanted to approve this card for new customers that haven’t applied for 5 new cards in the past two years.
That means three things…
False Alarm: American Did NOT Just Gut Mileage Earning on Cheap British Airways Flights
Sep
25
2015
American published new mileage earning rates for flights on British Airways and Iberia effective October 1. But they only published the changes on non-US websites, and only when viewing those sites in their native languages.
It turns out that ending the ability to earn full mileage on British Airways and Iberia flights was something published in error and that has been reverted on the website.
One imagines this was at least seriously under discussion, and could come, given the reduced earning that the British Airways and Iberia programs offer for discount fares on their own flights. But that day is not today.
American Won’t Be Adding Seats to their Reconfigured Boeing 777-200s After All…
Sep
25
2015
Instead of increasing the density of reconfigured Boeing 777-200 planes from 260 seats to 289 seats (and reducing the number of business class seats onboard), American tells me they’ve decided those 260 seat aircraft will stay in that configuration as a subfleet. That’s great for passengers.. and for upgrades.
Earn 150,000 Bonus Miles With Just Ten Trips
Sep
24
2015
Panama City-based Star Alliance airline Copa, which used United’s MileagePlus as its frequent flyer program until this summer, is getting up and running. They’ve been aggressively status matching especially United elites and folks with Latin America mailing addresses and with status in competitor programs.
They’ve handed out free miles just for joining. And they have reasonable award charts.
Now they have a big 150,000 mile offer for flying to Copa’s ‘new destinations’.
Free $15 for Many Readers, a New World’s Longest Flight Coming (Air India!), and Silvercar to Manhattan
Sep
24
2015
I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
BREAKING: American Airlines Will Get a Brand New Business Class Seat (And 2 Different 777-200/787 Seats)
Sep
24
2015
The American Airlines Boeing 777-200 retrofit project has been slow. Deliveries of the 787s had been delayed. And that’s long been though to be the result of slow deliveries of seats from Zodiac.
Now comes news that American has dropped Zodiac as their seat supplier.
How to Get a Suite Upgrade on Your Next Hotel Stay
If you’re like me, you need a hotel suite upgrade and don’t really care what room you get on a short business stay. My only really strong preference is not to have a connecting room, those don’t tend to isolate sound very well, and what I want most is a quiet room. Most of the time my elite status gets me into club lounges, and ‘club level’ upgrades are nearly meaningless. With most city hotels I don’t much care about the views. My work-related stays are generally short. But traveling for leisure, I’m generally not alone, the stays are often a bit longer, and I really enjoy an upgraded room. A hotel suite upgrade matters. Some people don’t share me feelings in valuing that, and that’s cool, they think “I’m on vacation and I’m not…
British Airways Website Showing Phantom US Airways Award Space
Sep
24
2015
One of the best ways to check availability on oneworld airlines (which are partners of American Airlines) is to use the British Airways website. That’s because BA.com shows the most partners online — including Japan Airlines flights that are not available on the other good site for award searches, Qantas.
Unfortunately the British Airways site is given to ‘break’. It will either not show entire airlines (for awhile US Airways flights didn’t show there but fortunately those show at AA.com!) or will show ‘phantom’ award space, it will appear as though awards are available but in the end the space isn’t bookable and will error out at BA.com (or if you call a partner airline, you’ll be told the space isn’t available).
